April 15, 2008

It's advice. What the hell. It's not true, but it's Mariah Carey, mentoring the "American Idol" kids tonight. Go ahead, warble all over your multi-octave range. Don't be afraid. Whatever you do is going to be real and authentic.

AND: Doing a female singer's songs, all of the male contestants were better than all of the female contestants. It's touching that people appreciate what Jason Castro is doing. He's this year's Elliott. Beyond Elliott really. I don't think anyone in the history of the show has gotten nearly this far without oversinging and showing off. Randy said he sounded like someone singing at a luau on the beach off in the distance. And Paula was all: I want to be at that luau all night long.

I credit/blame Mariah Carey for what I call vowel torture. She is responsible for creating an Abu Ghraib condition in the world of song. I hate hearing the notes twisted and stretched and made to go to unnatural places. However, Mariah herself did seem like she into being helpful to the contestents which was nice.

Tonight was proof again that just because you can do something reasonably well doesn't mean you can teach others. If they really wanted to help these kids, they should bring in some good producers and music coaches.

I don't like her style of music at all, but she seemed like a nice person. I think the bottom three will all be girls, and Carly Smithson is my prediction for who will go home, much as I want it to be Kristy Lee Cook.

I think Elliot was the best male singer Idol has ever had. He was really great.

I like Castro (hee) but I can't stop thinking of him as someone who I would hear on an Adult Contemporary station. He's kind of mellow, kind of cool, but ultimately he sounds pretty vanilla to me. Not that Idol's not supposed to be vanilla...!